The Placid Pug

|THE placid Pug that paces in the Park,

`Harnessed in silk and led by leathern lead,

Lives his dull life, and recks not of the Shark

`In distant waters. Lapped in sloth and greed,

He fails in strenuous life to make a mark,

The placid Pug that paces in the park.=

Round the slow circle of his nights and days

`His life revolves in calm monotony.

Not unsusceptible to casual praise,

`And mildly moved by the approach of "tea,"

No forked and jagged lightning leaps and plays

Round the slow circle of his nights and days.=

He scarcely turns his round protuberant eyes,

`To mark the mood of animals or men.

His joy is limited to mild surmise

`When a new biscuit swims into his ken.

And when athwart his gaze a Rabbit flies,

He scarcely turns his round protuberant eyes.=

And all the while the Shark in Southern seas

`Pursues the paths of his pulsating quest,

Though the thermometer at fierce degrees

`Might well admonish him to take a rest,

The Pug at home snores in ignoble ease.

(And all the while the Shark in Southern seas!)=

If Pugs like Sharks were brought up in the sea

`And forced to swim long miles to find their food,

Tutored to front the Hake's hostility,

`And beard the Lobster in his dangerous mood,

Would not their lives more sane, more useful be,

If Pugs like Sharks were brought up in the sea?=

The placid Pug still paces in the park,

`Untouched by thoughts of all that might have been.

Undreaming that he might have "steered his bark"

`Through many a stirring sight and stormy scene.

But being born a Pug and not a Shark

The placid Pug still paces in the park.=